From Guitars to Workforce Development with Gabriel Garcia

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Have you ever had to fire anybody?

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Oh man. Uh yes. Uh several times, but the one time that really that it hit me was the first time I did it. Uh I I was actually a lead man, and the foreman uh brought me over and said he said, Hey man, we're kind of slow, and we're gonna have to get rid of some people, some people that we don't want to get rid of. And this is this is a hard thing that we have to do, but it is something that you have to learn how to do. He goes, and here's the first person on the list. And the first person was on the list was my that is Mr.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Gabriel, who works for Merrick Brothers here in San Antonio, Texas. He is the build competition rock star for the Texas Construction Careers Initiative. Came up through the trades and now very focused on workforce development. In this conversation, we talk about some of the little tricks and techniques that he and his organization have developed to engage high school students. And by the way, they are like totally killing it when it comes to high school engagement, recruiting, and having that pipeline coming up from high school into the organization and through the org chart of the organization. And Gabriel is a success story of that system. You may hear a reference to Stacy Gunderson, whom we had interviewed here on the Learnings and Missteps podcast way back at the beginning. She saw the talent in Gabriel and poured into him and helped him develop and into the leader that he is now. This is a short one, and I don't want to be in your way from learning about my buddy Gabriel, who may be going on tour with Slash at some point. Uh so here we go. Son of a gun, I almost forgot to give a shout out to all our patrons out there that have been contributing to the effort. And no, though it would be amazing that we had so many folks lined up and contributing to the LM podcast that I could retire off of it. We're not quite there yet, but every bit of encouragement, every dollar, every like, every share is deeply appreciated because you're gonna continue helping us enhancing the image of careers and the trades. And so if you're interested in being a patron, go to learn insteps.com, look for the button, become a member, do the thing. If not, just share the episode with somebody else. We got some really great guests here, and I'm pretty sure they can enlighten somebody you care about. What's going on, LM family? Jesse here, and I got my good friend, Mr. Gabe Garcia, who is like uh mastermind, craft developer, craftsman, field leader, all of the above. Uh Gabe, how you doing, my man?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

I'm good. I'm good. Just got off of work and uh ready to enjoy my evening.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

We're usually we record on Saturdays, so we're recording on Tuesdays. So Ellen and family, y'all know, uh construction professionals to be able to jump on a call at five o'clock in the afternoon during the week is a significant commitment. And Gabe, not only did Gabe follow through on this commitment, he also just came back from vacation. How tell us about the vacation and then tell us about how little work you had to do once work once you got back in.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

I mean, predominantly we went to uh uh Viva Las Vegas, which is a car show. My my sisters is really into like uh 50s rockabilly music, and I dabbled in that music and that lifestyle. So we went to go and enjoy that for for a couple days. On the way back, I mean it was full force, you know, uh bringing in schools into Merrick, which is a drywall company that I work for, and out there, you know, sharing the importance of of construction and what great career paths they have. So yeah, uh nonstop since I got back. I bet you had a whole bunch of me emails piled up just waiting for you. Oh, yeah, I was mad if I was like over like 50 and like in the course of like three days.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

So you said something about being in um an interest or dabbling in rockability. Do you like do you play an instrument? Are you like a lead singer? What's up with that? That's news to me. I didn't know that, bro.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Yes, I am uh I'm a guitar player. Uh I've been playing since I was 14. I know you've had Stacey on the podcast before. Our first introduction was uh her coming up to me to enroll in this uh development program that the company was uh offering to young employees, and my first answer to her was like, Yeah, I'll join your program, but I ain't saying because I'm gonna be a famous musician one day. Nice. So guitar is it's an important part of your life.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Absolutely, it is. All right, bro. Well, I'm gonna tell you a little kind of shameful secret that I've had. I want to learn I've um you probably heard this a bunch of times. I want to learn how to play the guitar. I have an acoustic guitar at the house that that's collecting dust, it does, and it's good for like towels and and hoodies, like I can hang them on there, but I'm fixing to go buy me an electric guitar and an amp. Do you have any recommendations for a rookie wannabe uh starting off on the guitar life?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I would start off with diaperness. Definitely can't go wrong with diaperness. Honestly, any guitar over three or four hundred dollars will be a decent guitar to get started with. Uh, anything lower than that, you're getting for what you're paying for, right? It's it's not the best. Um, and amps, I mean, I just do my research. I mean, there's so many apps that do so many different things, and I mean, what kind of music do you like? Would you like to listen to? I like blues, bro.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

I like blues, and then after that, I like 50s, like the 50s rock and roll, oldies, like that style. But I don't know that I want to learn how to play that style. What I really want to learn how to play is is blues.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Okay. Yeah, I mean, uh, like Roland has kind of a very not Roland, excuse me, uh, Randall has like a very like uh flat tone, so you can kind of just you can make it your own. You uh I mean a lot of that stuff you can you can make it your own with pedals. Um but yeah, whether you're investing on an amp or on a guitar, anything over um three or four hundred dollars, you can't go wrong for a beginner.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

104. So I might have to put it on layaway because that ain't cheap.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

The guitar have back here cost me $1200.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Damn, that's serious. Son of a god. So you are gonna be fame, a famous musician. Nah, maybe maybe, maybe like 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

That's awesome, man. Uh, and so you mentioned that you had high schools coming in, like were they coming into the office, coming into the shop? Can you give us some details about that?

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Yeah, so a couple years back, the San Antonio has this uh this event called Job Shadow Day, where they invite schools to go visit uh construction companies and they kind of go through the ins and outs of of what each you know trade does. Uh when we were developing what ours would look like, we decided to kind of go through all the parameters that we do, you know, as in how do we get a job, you know, the estimating, the relationship between the project manager and the foremans, the technology with the leadmans. Uh that's that's very fun. The kids like that stuff when we use the technology. And then we we have a build, so we we show them the importance of safety, and uh, and they we go out there and build, build a couple walls, and the the the thing that goes off without a hitch, and and I know you've seen it before, it's the the screwing competition. Oh man, those kids love that.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Yeah, man. I got to see it. What was it two or three weeks ago at the TCCI uh construction career day? Which how was that experience for you? Because LM family, y'all need to know, Gabe stepped up first time, led the build competition, which was not an easy task to do. Uh, how did that go for you, man? Coordinating it and then actually finally seeing it happen.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Well, I'm gonna answer that in reverse. It was an awesome experience. It was it was the best once everything, once we handled everything. Honestly, um, I really love the team that we had because without the whole team working together to get that going, they they it could have gone bad pretty quick. You know, it was a very windy day. We were outside, we had material flying everywhere, ladders falling. It was uh, and for my first time, it was definitely a little bit overwhelming. Uh, but we pulled it off. You know, the uh the I was very impressed by how much knowledge these high school kids had in building. I mean, I was I was blown away. It was it was a sight to see, and I'm glad that I was part of of coordinating that for all of us for the for the event.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Yeah, man. You I mean, you ain't kidding. The way the team just came together and filled the gaps, and that sheet that cart of sheet rock fell over and broke. And hey, we need three more sheets. I got hey Sean, we need three more sheets. Just boom, boom, boom. Things just kind of kept clicking. It was amazing, but leading up to it was a little stressful for me.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Yeah, I I can imagine. I think for all of us, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

No, we had an amazing team. We still gotta have the um the happy hour debrief. I think I'm gonna schedule it for next week, uh, so we can you know capture lessons learned, relax a little bit, celebrate the accomplishment, and and plan for 5,000 students next year. What do you think? I'm ready.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

I'm I'm definitely looking forward for that celebrating because uh I need that. Even though I just came over vacation, I still need to celebrate that TCCI.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Hell yeah, man. We'll do it. We're gonna make it happen next week for sure. Awesome, bro. So so you brought and at the at the event, the construction career day, I got to see the it's a hands-on thing, right? So correct me if I'm wrong. I'm gonna try to describe it to our folks out there. It's we got to you've created like a mock-up steel uh frame, steel stud frame, and put sheetrock on it, and the students, the competition is they gotta drive five screws in and hit the stud, and whoever does it fastest wins. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Pretty simple. That's it. But uh the so as drywallers, uh, at least in San Antonio, I know other places and other companies use different tools. Uh the rolling of screws has kind of is it uh for lack of better term, an ancient art form. So we have the the kids hold the the screws in their hand and they have to roll the screws as fast as they can, load it onto the the the screw gun and be able to drive it into the into the drywall, you know, five screws first wins. Um, and it's fun, you know. If if there was a station that was allowed us, it was definitely our station.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Yes, yes, I got a lot of video of it. I still need to dive in and put out a bunch of content from that. And y'all also had um so first before I move to that, like it was easy to get content from there because there was just a gang of kids bunched up around it. I'm like, man, did somebody fall on the floor? I go check it out. Like, oh no, they're waiting in line and cheering each other on and talking smack. I'm like, and it's so simple, but super, super engaging. Did how did who gets the credit for that activity?

SPEAKER_00 12:24

I don't know. I I I I couldn't say. I mean, I've been doing these events with with Stacy since I was probably like 21 or 22, and uh it's just an it's been an evolving thing. People throw out throwing out ideas and and and trying to see what works, and and when we first saw that this was something that that the kids love, we were like, this is gold, we gotta keep doing it, and we're gonna do it every year. And and it's been it's been great.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Heck yeah, man. I loved it. And then y'all had a um a competition putting on a safety harness.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Yeah, the body harness, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

The body, the body harness, like I was waiting for some of the volunteers to jump in there, but I don't think everybody was too scared of that. That I didn't get any video of that either. I kind of regret that, but that was it was comical watching people get all tangled up and twisted, and it's like, man, like it's super simple, but it engaged the kids, it created an audience around your booth, and then you had like what was your can you describe the group of individuals that you that were representing Merrick Brothers at the booth engaging with these high school students?

SPEAKER_00 13:43

I mean, we've been hitting recruiting for the past maybe two years really hard, and I've been able to have some success with uh with high school students, and who better to to to recruit other high school students and someone who just graduated from high school. So they were they're on the same level as as as as these other guys and and and girls, and they just they they probably spoke a different language than I couldn't, and they spoke it really well, and they were able to engage and and get them to come out of their shell probably better than I could. Pablo, who who's uh he's a little bit older, but he has this patience and this way of talking that just is so uh you know brings this tranquility over everyone, and he's really good with uh with talking to to the younger generation. I'm a little I grew like I even though I'm I mean I'm not old, but I'm not young. I came up through the old school. I I can be a little aggressive sometimes, and having somebody like Pablo out there for uh yeah to help, you know even me out kind of kind of definitely helps for the booth for sure.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Yeah, man, absolutely. Y'all, it was I saw that, I was like, are those students or are those employees? And I'm like, hell no, they're young employee, and they have like I asked Stacy, she's like, Oh yeah, you just graduated, and they went to that high school. Like, genius, and that's like a that is a I will just say it, that's a genius investment because it was during the day, so the guys were on the clock, right? They're getting paid, but you're using not using, you're leveraging the relationships and that direct connection, the closest connection to these high school students to reinforce your workforce development. Like nobody else is doing that. Y'all are y'all, I'm like, son of a gun, TD industries are right behind y'all. And I used to work there, and I'm like, man, y'all fool, y'all need to catch up, y'all need to go watch what they're doing and bring some of them interns or or them young apprentices back to engage with the students. Uh genius, like y'all, y'all got it going on over there, man. That that's it's exciting to see that. And then now to hear you go back to your your to to work, right? Now it's not this big festival anymore, and you're still y'all are still engaging and investing in those young minds and exposing them to careers in the industry. How what's the response or what's the interaction like when they the students come visit your business uh during during the school day?

SPEAKER_00 16:21

I mean, they get a field trip, right? So they're they're they're probably in a better state of mind whether if we went to to to their schools, which we do also, but honestly, there's not a lot of companies. When when I talk, well, when I talk to the to the teacher, we had Southwest today going to Merrick, and I asked him, well, who goes out there and and talks to the students about you know job opportunities? And he says, Merrick and and Hope, and that's it. There's nobody going out there. So I think these kids are are very, I don't want to say grateful. I don't know if that's the right term, but they they they like the fact that someone's going out there and trying to reach to them, trying to trying to give them a career versus just another job, which is something that we really focus on and we preach to to all these kids, is like this is a career, and you can take it as far as you want to go. I mean, if you're a salesman and you're good with math, you can be an estimator and a project manager. If if you can manage people, you can be a foreman. If you love technology and and deciphering and puzzles is your thing, you can be a leadman and layout buildings. I mean, there's a spot for everyone, and we try to do that and show that to the to to all these kids that you can make a lot of money and any in in in any part of of of any trade, uh, whether you're the foreman, leadman, even as a worker, if you're if you just like building things and putting things together and you're good at it, they any company will pay you top dollar to do that.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Yeah, a hundred percent. And so little challenge out there to all the employers that are complaining and whining about the the gap, right? There, we don't have enough people getting in the trades. Here's the challenge: are you doing any of the things that Gabriel just described? When is the last time you went to a high school campus and engaged with high school students about the careers that your organization can offer? Um, let's see what you got, baby. Bring it, hit us, get leave some comments. If I made you mad, good, let me know and and share your secret sauce because I mean it's true, there is a shortage, and I think everybody's dealing with the pain. Rather, everybody's experiencing the pain and they don't want it, they don't want to hurt anymore, but they're just not sure what to do. So, you you guys sharing your your methods and other people sharing their methods, like we just spread that around and we can turn the ship. Uh, because like you said, bro, there are tons of amazing career opportunities in the industry. And so now you're like the workforce development guru. Is that is that your the El Metal Metal that workforce development? That's your title.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Um I yeah, I mean developing the workforce, managing it, making sure that no one stays stagnant. Anyone who wants to have the you know, learn how to read blueprints or or just you know learn how to manage soft skills. That I am the guy who who who who does all that. That's amazing, bro.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

That is amazing. So here's the question. You're you're you're a big dog now, right? Making big impact on people's lives. Um, and we already know you were gonna be up there playing side by side with slash, that's still in the cards, right? Um what were your earliest career aspirations?

SPEAKER_00 19:50

So when I first started with Merrick, it was it was really just Merrick was a side gig for what I really wanted to do. Uh, and and the thing that was great about Merrick was that Merrick gave me the ability to go and and and go still do my thing, go play music, and you know, there's some guys that had family in Mexico and they would go to Mexico for a couple weeks or for a month. And if they were great employees, Merrick were like, go do your thing, come back, come work for us. And they allowed me to do the same thing. So to me, I never saw myself as running work uh or or nothing like that, but I just like the ability that I had a good job that paid me well, and I can still follow my my dream. And and Merrick, you know, gave me the freedom to do that, and I was like, I'm not leaving, you know. If I'm gonna just be a carpenter for the rest of my life, I'm okay with with that. As you know, people started seeing that I had some snap, and I was willing to take on more responsibilities, they just started throwing more responsibilities. By the time I was 24, I I they they gave me the responsibility to be in a foreman and run run work, which was a little bit overwhelming. I still think I wasn't ready, but I I took it on full force, and after that, everything started to switch where you know music started to become more of a hobby, and working for Merrick was what I wanted to dedicate my time to. And um, it was kind of hard to let go of of what I wanted to do, my dream, but it was good that I had the the the fallback from a good company who took care of me, you know, for I think at a time it was like five, six years. So I started with Merrick at six at uh 19. So my aspirations were to all the energy that I had put into music to to do it with Merrick. So I wanted to be the top. I wanted uh one day maybe a superintendent or or whatever. Yeah. And you've done that.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

I mean, you you started off as an apprentice, maybe a laborer, apprentice, lead man, foreman, superintendent, now a mero metal pinche workforce development.

unknown 22:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Well, I haven't hit the superintendent. That's my next uh bucket list. Maybe, maybe soon I'll be able to hit that. But yeah, I've been moving up, and all the young and say that they want my job. I'm like, good, come take my job so I can take someone else's job.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

That's what it's about, baby. So you mentioned in the foreman role that you they you felt like you got into the foreman role before you were ready. And you you've made several significant steps, significant jumps in your career. Are you ever really ready?

SPEAKER_00 22:33

That's that's a hard question to answer. I don't I don't know. I mean, part of me wants to say yes. You know, after every job, you know, every job you get more experience, but every job also brings something new. So I guess no. I mean, it's a little bit of both. I know that I I had support. Whether there was something that I couldn't that I didn't understand, this the superintendents always came by and asked me, Do you need any help? Do you understand this? You know what's going on. So uh whether I was ready or not, they were there as uh they were my backbone for sure.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Beautifully said. I just had a conversation with with Mike. He used to be the co-host, Renee, my brother. Now he's like the celebrity cameo guy because he shows up every once in a while. Um, but we have this conversation a lot about are you like, are you ready? Um, and it's like, man, if I waited until I was ready, I would never have taken so many steps in my life. But what helped me through the gaps in experience that I didn't have was the resources and the relationships that I had, right? And that's what you just talked about. As you hit up a superintendent, what do you need? They're gonna help you out, they're gonna give you what you need. Um, and I think that's an important lesson for a lot of people out there. Like, you may never be ready. Now, on the other side, there's a lot of people that everybody knows they ain't ready, but damn it, they're gonna be the CEO next week. That's also a problem. You get to deal with that at all, Gabe.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Oh, yeah, absolutely. We have a lot of people who feel that they should be in this spot and they should be in that spot, but haven't proven themselves to be able to take on those roles or or even just be that responsible because being a leader, managing people, you know, having to deal with with the money, is it's uh it's a very big thing, and it's not simple. People the one thing that I always hated hearing people say, and I sometimes even misunderstood is that the foremans are just there walking around, which is definitely not the not the case. Once I became a foreman, it was like I had I had like 500 things I need to knock out in one day, and if I didn't do it, though, you know, if I only did 400, then 100 things popped on to the next day. Now I had 600 things I had to knock out in a day, and it was just if I wasn't a good manager at the beginning, I definitely learned a lot of skills on my way to becoming a decent manager from being a foreman for sure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

No, you're right. I remember uh at it was at the foreman level that I realized because I thought the same thing. I said, Well, shoot, I want to be a lead man because they have tacos and donuts in the morning, and I want to be a foreman because they're they're in the office half the time, they're in meetings, and I want to be a superintendent because all they do is drive around, and then I want to be a project manager because they don't do anything, which all of those things are false. And as I got to the role, it was it was just I didn't understand like what I was chasing or attracted to was the status of the role. What I was what wasn't obvious was the responsibility and the amount of work that came with that responsibility, and like you said, there's a responsibility of the job, but more importantly, the responsibility of developing the career of the people that are on your team. Like when I finally realized that I was like, oh, this is serious business because the decisions I make are gonna impact their earning capacity, and that's gonna impact their family, and like that was whoa, wake up, brother. This is this is different, and as we progress, that responsibility gets bigger and bigger. Yes, we do get donuts, and yes, we get to spend a little more time in the air condition, but baby, it ain't easier.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

I mean, I remember when I was a worker, I I'd I'd be done with work, I'd go to the gym, work out for a couple hours, and I'd go play with my band. And I had all this energy, and when I became a foreman, I just remember even though I wasn't physically working, I was just so mentally fatigued from the stress and planning, and it was just a whole nother level of uh of stress that I wasn't you know used to. And then I I mean, I have a lot of respect for anybody who can run work and run it successfully because it's not an easy task for sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

Oh man, uh yeah, it it's um it's taxing, it's mentally and emotionally taxing. And you know, emotional that's that's like a bad word, right? We don't talk about it, but it's for it's real. Like, have you ever had to fire anybody?

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Oh man, uh yes, uh several times, but the one time that really that it hit me was the first time I did it. Uh, I I was actually a lead man, and the foreman uh brought me over and said he said, Hey man, we're kind of slow, and we're gonna have to get rid of some people, some people that we don't want to get rid of. And this is this is a hard thing that we have to do, but it is something that you have to learn how to do. He goes, and here's the first person on the list, and the first person was on the list was my partner that I've been working with for a couple months. Yeah, that was tough. Um, you know, luckily he got hired on with with Joris, making more money, and he's successful with Joris. So maybe it was a good thing that that that happened, but still having to to tell him, hey man, we have no more work, you know, we have to let you go was was hard, you know, because I could think about, you know, what is he gonna do for work? How's he gonna support his family? You know, why me? What did I have to be the one to bear bad news? It was yeah, not not a good good thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Not fun, not fun at all, man.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

You um I hate to say it, but I'm just gonna be straight up. There were people that man, I wanted to fire because they just drove me nuts, and and they were a detractor on the team, but even them, it was it was not, it was hard. There, there's um there's an emotional impact because you're affecting somebody's life. So, for all you youngsters out there that think you want it and it's gonna be smooth sailing, baby. It ain't that easy. And if it is and you enjoy doing it, you shouldn't be in that role.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Like, I don't do it. Like, uh-uh, can't be that way, whoo, baby.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

All right, this is good stuff. So I'm gonna hit you with the with the hard thought here. Think back, and this, you know, it could be out on the job, it could be in your current position, in your personal life, whatever. Um, is there a significant learning that you've had as a result of a painful misstep?

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Um the first one that comes to mind is and it goes back to when I first became a foreman, is Merrick was good at at seeing my potential and and and pushing me towards those goals, whether I was ready or not. And I've always felt that I never got to master any of the skills that that that I was doing. You know, I was a helper, then all of a sudden I was a journeyman. I thought I wasn't ready to be a journeyman, and then all of a sudden I went from being a journeyman to being a lead man, didn't feel I was ready. Um, when I became a foreman, I felt all right, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

We got a bit of a change here. Yes, I'm breaking up the flow, and that's not gonna change, it's gonna stay the same. But the LM family has spoken out, and we've heard you loud and clear. What we are doing is the backstage passes, these clips that you're not gonna be able to listen to on this audio version, are now gonna be available to everybody on our YouTube channel. So hit up our YouTube channel, subscribe, follow, like, hit all the buttons, and and give yourself a little bit of a learnings and missteps marathon and catch up on all the outtakes. We want to hear your comments and we want to know what you're learning from these things because all of our guests have shared some pretty intimate uh missteps and have had some pretty profound learnings, and we hope that you can take that and apply that going forward and even teach it to your people, the people you care about. So that is going to be the deal going forward. Thank you for supporting us and back to the show. Um, and yeah, it's it's it's not a good thing. It's not, it's not a good thing. I remember uh I don't know, you probably know you know Robert Chavez with TD Industries. Uh I don't the name's unfamiliar, but he's always talking smack.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Um everybody's on T B I S L Corn.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Everybody that was good. Uh um we were working, man. I can't remember. We're all like uh anyways, we're working on some, it was a tenant finish out, fifth floor, and I was the foreman on the job. We had a bunch of plumbing, bunch of med gas. And I said, okay, I'm gonna rough in this. It was like a little uh single bathroom. I just had a water closet, a lavatory, and that was it. Like the you know, the waste, domestic water, whatever. And I'm like, no, no, no, I'm gonna do that's my work. That way everybody else can be doing all their work. Had a bunch of people there, and then one day Robert comes up to me and he says, Hey dude, like who did that bathroom? I said, Me. He's like, Let's go. He said, first of all, it took you three weeks, right? I'm like, no, it didn't. So we walk over there, go check it out. Sure, yeah, and he was right. It took me three weeks to, and it was it was a day's worth of work, maybe two three weeks to actually finish it, and it looked like garbage, like it was just horrible, horrible work because I would start and then I would get a call. And hey Jesse, can you come check out this RTU? And hey Jesse, we got a delivery, and hey, are you right? You know, you know how it is busy, busy, busy, busy. So I was piecemealing it and I just did a miserable job. But what was worse, and I figured it out on that job, was while I was working, like installing, the guys were catching up to me. Meaning the material and the information that I gave them, they were running out of it and they were waiting on me because I'm over here jacking around trying to show the skill that I got, right? Which I mean, it wasn't that great on that occasion. Um, and then because they're waiting on me, it's like you said, they got frustrated, they got nestul, they started, you know, screwing around and going down to the first floor because we're waiting on material now, and that's when it clicked, like, oh man, I can't do that kind of thing because nobody comes to work to stand around. And if you want to piss off craft workers, have them standing around. Like that's pointless. And so it took a little bit, but I finally shifted into okay, my job is to make sure they have the material, information, and equipment to execute the work and support them through that. Then if I'm gonna do some work, I could do a little bit, but not nothing like after that, I would only like do fire caulking or labeling or about like something e like if I left it, it wasn't gonna impact any other trade. Um, and so if I left it, I would make sure I stayed in front of the guys, and then you know, I didn't entirely stop pissing people off, but I stopped pissing them off because of the material delays.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Baby steps, baby steps 10 four man.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Uh good. That is solid information for for anybody that is transitioning into field leadership. Started as a framer, graduated, maybe prematurely, up the ranks to leadman, to foreman, had a miss a you know, painful misstep, but you learned from it. You know, the just want to say like the important part of that question, uh, it's like the title of the podcast, right? Learnings and missteps, is because there's this thinking out there that you've got to be perfect, you got to be right, you gotta be ready. But man, most of the the wisdom that I have comes from missteps.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Like the missteps are the things that, man, I don't forget that. Now, there are some that I've done five or six times. It took, you know, I needed to practice, I guess. Um, but for the most part, it is those missteps, making those mistakes, not knowing the answer, and and figuring out how to utilize my resources that added the knowledge and the wisdom for me to serve to the degree that I'm serving now. And everybody has them. Like, there hasn't been a single person that I've asked about a painful, a significant learning as a result of a painful misstep that they didn't have an answer. Most of the time, they're like, Oh man, I got a bunch of them, and they'll pick one, right? Um, and so that's it's just let's get real about it because because we're human, we're all human, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with being human. Uh, so we're gonna come slide into home with the finale question, which is what footprint do you intend to leave on the world?

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Wow, that's a very loaded question. Honestly, I just want to teach people to learn from my mistakes. Uh, the the biggest lesson that I think I could give anybody, whether they're just starting their career or midway in any in any position and in any spot is that not to be afraid to make mistakes because everybody who succeed who is successful or has succeeded has probably made you know thousands of mistakes before they've had their their one their their one win. So if one thing is to just teach people not to be afraid of of making mistakes and to really just go out there and and and and do your thing and don't be afraid.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

You got any any people you want to give a shout-out to? You remember back in the day, KTFM, they had like shout-out night dedication.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

You know, the the cliches, my family and friends, you know, they've I I wouldn't be here or as gone as far in my career without them. Um and the people who looked out for me in my in in my process. You know, I've had formats who were really hard, but it without without them, I wouldn't have learned the the lessons or or gotten to be successful uh as I am without without their their hardness. Um my superintendent, who, you know, I don't know if you've ever met my superintendent, but he's a scary looking dude. Uh very viking looking dude, but you know, he's he's actually he he really cares about his people, and and I'm thankful that I I have a role model like him. And even his daughter, Stacy, who's been looking out for me since I was 19 years old. I mean, uh, at least when it comes to my career and the the the company that I work for, I am thankful that I am uh that I've worked for them. And uh shoutouts to Merrick and and their great employees. Yeah, man, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

I love Merrick Stacey's amazing. She she's breathed life, she's breathed life into me. She's doing that with you, she's doing that with so many people. Um Merrick Brothers does stand out in my head for their workforce development, their investment in workforce development. Like, I don't know any other uh trade specialty contractors out there that are making the type of investment that y'all are making, partnering with schools in Houston, y'all are doing the high school internships, you're doing construction career day. Like, there's so many things that y'all are doing that y'all in my head, at least in the local market, y'all are leading the industry in in in terms of doing it right. Um, and and so sometimes that makes me feel a little guilty for you know busting the sheetrock and and cutting the scrubs back in the day, you know.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Oh no, I'm alright. I'm not gonna forget that.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

I said, Oh, I could I'll take it off and put it back on. I know what I'm doing, and then you could tell, like a plumber did that. That was Gabriel. Like I said, it was a short and sweet interview, action-packed, lots of information. I hope you guys took notes. And actually, I want to challenge you if you're out there and you've got a workforce in the trades and you're looking for tips and tricks on how to expand your workforce and how to recruit um the next generation of our industry. You need to hit up Merrick Brothers or Sabra Phillips, Stacey Gunderson, Mr. Gabriel Garcia. They've got a lot of stuff going on, they've figured a whole bunch of things out, and I know that they're happy to share with you. Um, and now it is time for the LM family shout out. This shout out is to Mr. Armando Tunales. Armando says, Congratulations. Thanks for your passion and leadership. Looking forward to seeing where this path will take you. And that's that's kind of a selfish plug there. That is in reference to the most recent change I've made in my life, which is going full-time entrepreneur, social media mogul, consulting, coach, all of the above. Armando, appreciate you, my man. I've seen all your posts out there on LinkedIn, all the learning that you're doing, all the knowledge that you're bringing to your crew up there in the DFW area. Uh, to the rest of you folks, love you very much. Keep bringing the love because all we got is love for you. Man, you are one dedicated listener, sticking with us all the way through to the very, very end. Please know that this podcast dies without you. And we invite you to share how the episode is impacting you, along with your thoughts, questions, and suggestions. You have been gracious with your time, so we added social media links in the show notes to make it super easy for you to connect with us. Be kind to yourself, stay cool, and we'll talk at you next time.